The Reformers inherited Augustinian amillennialism and did not significantly innovate in eschatological doctrine — their energies were directed at soteriology and ecclesiology rather than end-times speculation. Luther identified the Pope with the Antichrist, giving eschatological urgency to the Reformation struggle itself; Calvin's eschatology focused on the final resurrection and judgment as the completion of justification and the vindication of the elect. The Reformation intensified apocalyptic consciousness — many Reformers believed they were living in the final days — without developing a new systematic eschatology to replace the Augustinian tradition.
'Seeing the pope is antichrist, I believe him to be a devil incarnate...an abomination of desolation, which stands in the holy place' — Luther's most eschatologically charged identification, investing the institutional conflict with cosmic significance by applying Daniel's and Paul's antichrist prophecies to the papacy and framing the Reformation as the remnant faithful in the last days.
On the final resurrection and last judgment as the eschatological horizon of Christian hope — Calvin's measured, Augustinian account, focused on the believer's confident expectation of vindication rather than speculative calculation of timetables.
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